Is there anyone with atrial fibrillation who hasn’t been told that coffee and caffeine can cause or trigger atrial fibrillation?
The first step to controlling atrial fibrillation, we’re often told, is to eliminate coffee. Because of this, coffee and caffeine are frequent topics on afib discussion forums.
But there’s interesting information about coffee at the Micronutrient Information Center of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
This fascinating site contains interesting facts, such as that unfiltered coffee can raise total cholesterol and bad cholesterol (LDL) levels. In addition, coffee consumption is associated with decreased risk of Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and liver disease, and there is no evidence that it increases the risk of cancer. It can increase blood pressure, but most studies found no increased cardiovascular disease risk from moderate consumption.
What was most interesting, though, was the relationship of coffee and cardiac arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation. According to the site,
“Clinical trials have not found coffee or caffeine intake equivalent to 5-6 cups/d to increase the frequency or severity of cardiac arrhythmias in healthy people or people with CHD. A large prospective study in the US that followed more than 128,000 people for 7 years found no association between coffee consumption and sudden cardiac death. More recently, two prospective studies in Scandinavia found no association between coffee consumption and the risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a common supraventricular arrhythmia.”
So, according to this, coffee, even 5-6 cups per day, doesn’t play a role in developing atrial fibrillation or increasing the frequency or severity of arrhythmias.
When this topic comes up on a discussion forum, someone will inevitably say that they drink as much coffee they want as long as it’s organic or it’s decaf.
What has been your experience with coffee and afib? Does cutting out coffee or caffeine decrease or eliminate your atrial fibrillation? Or does it make it any difference at all?
How many of us grab some coffee when we’re stressed? Could it be stress, not coffee, that’s the culprit?
Despite reducing my intake of caffeine by drinking a mixture of 50% decaf on the post cardioversion advice of my nutritionist, I have never found modest coffee consunption to be an a-fib trigger despite the numerous references to it by many a-fib sufferers.
Hi,
I have stopped all caffeine consumption. That is coffee, tea, and most all chocolate..Caffeime makes the heart raise, so I’m afraid of it…
Nel
Nel,
Just wondering…do you have the same effect with both organic and regular coffee and tea?
Some folks with afib say that it’s the pesticides in the coffee and tea that seem to trigger afib rather than the caffeine. They can have organic coffee just fine, but give them non-organic and it triggers afib.
The same could apply to organic vs. regular chocolate.
Mellanie
Dan,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Mellanie
Having given up all types of coffees, which was my lifeline, I’m starting to drink teas. I’ve learned how to decaffeinate teas. But, I’m wondering what is the acceptable level of caffeine allowed an A Fib patient? In restaurants it is almost impossible to find caffeine free beverages. How much caffeine is considered safe? Thank you.
I don’t think that I’ve seen that kind of information.
Since some believe that caffeine isn’t the problem, but that the pesticides are, if organic is available, that might be an acceptible solution.
Mellanie
A definate yes on the caffeine triggering atrial fib, at least in my case. But there are a lot of qualifications. When I started getting intermitten Afib either adrenalin or caffeine would increase the possibility of an occurance on a given day.
The mechanism appears (on some people) to be that the caffeine increases the tendacy of the ventricles to pick up, see, or respond to more of the excessive atrial signals presented to it. It is my understanding that it acts the same as any stimulant to the automic nervous system, similar to getting excited, exercising, being fearful, ect.
I am quite sensitive to Caffeine and that is the way it works on me.
But now that I have continuous Afib I actually take say a quarter of a Excedrin in the morning otherwise I will be walking around like a zombie because my blood pressure is so low. That is partly because I continue run regularly and that still decreases my “resting” blood pressure.
Anyway the effect of caffeine was very obvious when I first started getting intermitten Afib.
DC
My lone A-Fib started at age 39. It doesn’t run in my family and I am in great shape. My downfall is I love the herbal stimulants. I used to take lots of Ephedra and caffiene when I was in my 20′s and early 30′s for enrgy and weight loss. I have never smoked and was never a drinker. After doing a lot of research and talking to many cardioligists and EP’s I am convinced my use of the herbs was most likely the cause. I eventually had ablation and am on Flec as a precaution. I monitor my caff intake and keep it under 300mg daily and do not take any other stimulants. I kow there are no studies proving this, but it just makes sense that stress and stimulants should be minimized.
Rich,
I’m glad you’re taking care of yourself.
Best wishes,
Mellanie
Darryl,
With you being so sensitive to caffeine, do you find that’s with both regular coffee and organic? Just curious if it makes a difference for you.
Mellanie
Every time I have more than 2 or 3 servings of caffiene, I have an A-Fib attack. I need to cut back to 1-2
Suggestion to some who are trying to cut back or monitor caffeine. In an effort to monitor my exact intake I bought a bottle of 100mg caffeine tablets. I stopped consuming any caffeine containing drinks and foods. I take 1 100mg tablet 1-2 times a day. The beauty of this is you can monitor your exact amount of caffeine instead of guessing how much caffeine your cups of java have. If you are trying to ween your self off, these tablets can even be broke in half and you can slowly decrease your intake. I was once a 900mg a day person. I have successfuly cut back using this method and I believe I will eventually be off caffeine.
Rich,
That’s an interesting idea for weening yourself off caffeine.
With fingers crossed, I’m reporting that cutting out caffeine has had an immediate positive impact on my symptoms. They’ve practically disappeared in the span of two and a half weeks.
I’ve been trying to listen to my body and to pay attention to my environment in an effort to determine the “cause” for a few years now (even though my doc says that “nobody knows what the cause is”).
With unlimited coffee at work, I’d started to consume a lot of coffee, just out of habit. Just on a lark, I tried switching over to decaf. I’m lucky in that I don’t get physically addicted to substances, and so it was easy to go cold turkey.
The symptoms, which had escalated in recent months, immediately abated, and now I very rarely get a flutter, and haven’t had a sustained event (more than five minutes) at all.
I’m going to hold off refilling my flecainide to see if this theory holds. One thing’s for sure: I’m not suffering from a flecainide deficiency! There has to be one or more causes for this.
John H.
Chicago, IL USA
John,
Congratulations! That’s wonderful that you’ve gotten your afib under control and know how to keep it under control. Keep up the good work.
Mellanie
I am a 21 year old very active and in good shape university student. I am not a caffeine junky but have been known to drink the odd coffee when trying to get an extra couple hours of studying in. 2 weeks ago I got my 1st afib attack and it lasted for about 10 hours then stopped by itself. The attack came while I was hockey and when the doctors asked if I drink excessive amounts of coffee, I responded no, and they said, that wouldn;t have been the reason. But I did have a coffee before my hockey game, and told the doctors that and they seemed to think it would not have been the reason.
The other day I tried to give coffee another go, and although I did not get an afib attack, It did make me feel rather light headed and I could feel my heart beating faster.
I would vote for caffeine being a potential cause of this.
I have had very light episodes of a-fib all of my life. If they were going to occur it would be just before my ‘monthly’. I was told it was an over active vagal nerve and that some light physical activity, say jumping jacks, would take care of it.
I have just recently had an episode that lasted for 24 hours but went a way on its own while I hospitalized. That was when I discovered that what I had was a recognized condition.
I am now on meds which do help. I find my a-fib occurs most often when I am resting or have not gotten enough sleep and am overly tired, or getting ready to fall asleep. If I get up and move about and walk slowly around the house it decreases. If I try to sleep while it is happening it gets worse. I am hypertensive( 130 over 80 with meds) and could lose some weight which I am in the process of doing in the hopes that it will diminish the episodes. I do not have heart disease, stopped smoking three years ago (I was alight smoker) and my arteries a clear.
I have stopped drinking coffee and I did not know that tea also had caffeine so that is finished. It was difficult to give up my daily glass of wine but I have. I am thinking weight loss coupled with all of the above will help. Anyone have any ideas suggestions or can tell me if I am on the right path?
Has anyone else experienced a-fib when they were resting or overly tired?
Vicki,
Some folks that have afib when resting find that they also have sleep apnea, which can trigger afib. Please ask your doctor if that is a possibility with you. Afib and sleep apnea often go hand in hand.
Good luck.
Mellanie
I was diagnosed in May of 2008 with A Fib and I have been on Lisinopril, bisoprolol, and coumadin ever since and I have no symptoms of A Fib regardless of what I eat or drink that contains caffeine. I am a 43 year old white male.
For me, my two most serious A.F. attacks have been as a result of the deadly combination of coffee and stress.
In both cases I’ve had a lot of work piling up and deadlines to hit. As a result I downed a few strong coffees in the belief that they would keep me focused and alert until the job was done.
Since my first attack, I’ve had a coffee now and again, and have also been under stress on occasions, but have not succumbed to an attack.
BUT, a few days ago, I was silly enough to add coffee to stress again, and was hospitalised for a night, while they attempted to regulate my BPMs again.
In the end, as in my previous case, a good, restful sleep seemed to do more good than all the beta-blockers and I.V. drugs.
Just diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with episodes of ventricular standstill ( pacemaker job). Asked consultant cardiologist about coffee- told to stop drinking the stuff. I am a doctor, so have looked at medical literature – there is little to suggest normal quantities of coffee (e.g. 3 cups daily) are a problem.
A study this month from New York shows no cardiac risk from coffee, even in diabetics, and another showed a LOWER risk (J Electrocardiol. 2006 Oct;39(4):421-5. Epub 2006 Aug 21). Before believing advice ask for the published evidence!
I hope this is useful
I am 28 year old, addicted to coffee & smoking, in a day I used to consumed about 6 cup double coffee & 2 pack of cigarette. on march 23rd I am experiencing a heart problem. it was unhappy condition for me. the doctor said that nothing’s wrong with my heart it just an ordinary palpitation due to stress, but I know there is something happen with my heart because it feel very unconfortable the beat sometimes felt doubled and sometimes it felt like no beat at all, the ecg did not shown any problem, but in echocardiograph shown that I have a MR trivial & TR 24mmhg.
when I ask the doctor what cause it, she just smile at me and say :
“you owe your life a recreation, your soul need to be relaxing, you need to free your mind, you need to jogging everyday 5 KM minimum to train your cardiovascularity system, you need to reduce coffee consumtion and you need to stop smoking, that’s all no medical prescription require”.
and right now I am very trauma with those 2 stuff
to vicki _
I have had four episodes of afib this summer. And they were all similar to what you have had. I am 47, tall, with a BMI of 28-29. I considered myself fit and active. Three of the episodes happened at the end of a busy day. I’m resting on the sofa, go half a flight of stairs up to bed at 10pm. Lay down and within a few minutes I’m in afib for the night. I’ve only converted in the morning when I’m sitting at the computer or sitting on the sofa. I’ve started metopropol 50mg/day. No history of heart disease. Previouslly drank 3-4 cups of coffee/day and drank less than 3-4 oz wine a day. Doctor said until I cut out coffee/alcohol won’t put me on anything else.
I am a 39 year old female and I have drunk large quantities of caffienated drinks for most of my adult life. Over the past 18 months my coffee intake has risen to about 6 cups a day due to the convenience of the espresso machine at my office.
Two months ago I started having severe palpatations and ended up in hospital. The doctor told me I have atrial taccycardia. I have no family history and my stress levels have been fine. I am convinced that the large caffeine intake I was having every day triggered these attacks. I also have gastro-intestinal discomfort.
My condition has gotten much worse, despite stopping smoking and dramatically reducing my caffeine intake. I am waiting for test results to come through before trying Flecanide as I am experiencing afib every day now. I do notice an increase in the afib symptoms even with a small amount of caffeine.
I’m glad to find this discussion! I’m 64, with mitral valve prolapse and a lifelong coffee drinker. About 15 and 18 years ago I had two episodes of Afib requiring chemical cardioversion in the hospital. It was never clear what the trigger was, and I continued to drink @ 3 cups of coffee a day, and one or two glasses of wine a night. Never had any more problems. About 6 years ago I started taking Provigil, an alertness drug, for a sleep-related disorder. Still never any problem.
Then a week ago I went into Afib and I’m guessing it was an unusual “perfect storm” of too many stimulants: I had taken some Provigil, some Sudafed for a stuffy nose, then had a glass of wine, a beer, and topped it off with an Irish coffee – whiskey in coffee – and the arrhythmia kicked in after that. I think the Afib is slowly resolving, but I learned a lesson. Interestingly, my cardiologists was most concerned about the Sudafed- she said it is more cardio-active than people realize.
richard
Richard,
It sounds like everything added up to cause your afib, though the Sudafed could have been the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Is there a possibility that your sleep disorder could have contributed to it? Sleep apneas are associated with an 18 times higher risk of afib than normal sleep breathing. Here’s info on that: Sleep Apnea Multiplies Risk of Arrhythmias Like Atrial Fibrillation:
http://stopafib.org/newsitem.cfm/NEWSID/211
Mellanie
I’m 55 based in the UK and had an ER attack of AF mid December 2009. Looking back I am certain I had quite a number of other attacks before December, just did not appreciate what they were.
Since the first event attacks come pretty regularly, despite medication, getting to the point where I am reluctant to go to bed because they most often come on overnight.
Following the first ER event I cut coffee and tea right back but I have long been a heavy coffee drinker and so as the meds had some impact I increased tea/coffee again. The events increased in frequency and my first conclusion was that the meds were not working.
However, last Saturday I completely cut out Tea and Coffee just drinking water and juice.
Over the last five days I have had just one three and a half hour event and am able to sleep again.
So for me at least the link seems to be clear cut.
I have read the reports that normal consumption of around three cups a day can be tolerated so I will try introducing just one cup to see what happens and will also try organics and post again in a week or so.
Thanks for the site.
Mike
I, too, am quite sensitive to caffeine and have been all my life. My first touch of a fib was in college, after drinking my first (and last!) Irish coffee. In my early 50′s I had my first a fib attack, for real, and went to the hospital for a night. It was brought on by a day of too much coffee, sudafed, and a glass of red wine, plus too much excitement at a rock concert, I believe. Cutting out all caffeine and switching to decaf and eliminating sudafed left me symptom free for 5 years. Now I’m having weekly episodes, after even one glass of wine or a diet Coke. I still drink decaf but have considered eliminating it because it has small amounts of caffeine. I know from experience that caffeine brings on these afib episodes for me, and suspect the alcohol does now, as well. I’m curious to know more about the role of exercise in decreasing these symptoms. I’m a 59 year old female and wonder if my recent return of hot flashes, which seems to correlate with the return of the afib, means hormones are playing a role in this?
This is amazing.
I have AF and sometimes feel like I’m stuck
in 2nd gear but if I brew a pot of coffee and
drink a half cup it feels like a jump-start and
then I settle down to an AF that I can cope with.
On another note my adversion to “mold” can
cause an increased event of AF….which is
very disconcerting. Just the smell and being
in the same room wtih mold is a trigger.
I am mostly in sinus rhythm but over the last decade I have had afib about 18 times due to a virus that attacked my heart and almost killed me. I cut out caffeine from then on except what I get out of decaf. Truthfully, I’m not sure it makes a difference. Lately, after a failed ablation, my afib has been happening about once a month. Neither alcohol or caffeine(I tried it once during this) has ever triggered it. I completely stay away from decongestants though. Honestly, right now there is is no rhyme or reason for my afib except I have IBS alot and I believe it helps cause it.
Just now looking into this. I have had 1 to 2 episodes every day for about a month, lasting from minutes to an hour. My heart is pounding, skipping a beat, not racing too fast (110)–feels very wierd, often have a brain fog with it, and a fluttery feeling. I think have paroxymal a-fib. Things that precipitate– STRESS –my job is stressful and unfriendly. Now I also am wondering if it was the caffeine too. Also going through menopause. I know I should see my doctor, but she always tells me to lose weight, and I think she thinks I am a hypochondriac. I have seen her for some other things recently. But stress can do many things to us. It would be interesting to see if the stress was removed, would the afib go. Unfortunately, gotta work! Thanks for the site.
I was 42 when I first got afib. I am an avid runner and I feel I am in great shape. The day of my first afib, I ran a 5K. I ate a banana and water afterwards and came home and took a shower. After the shower I began feeling dizzy. My wife is a nurse. She listened to my heart and knew exactly what it was. I was put on blood thinners and overnight in the hospital I went back to sinus rhythym. This last weekend, it happened again (2nd time). I ran a 5K trail run and was feeling fine afterwards. After the race I ate a banana and had gatorade. I stopped for drive through lunch on the way home (Chicken sandwich). At home I took a shower and 10 minutes later it happened again. The first time, I used to drink at least 5 cups of coffee a day in addition up to 2 Monster Coffee Energy drinks (equiv to 7 cups of coffee each – equiv 12-19 cups a day). I loved energy drinks. After my afib, I went down to 1 cup a day and NO more energy drinks. In March 2010, I decided to give up coffee for lent. And I did. This last Friday evening, I had a cup of coffee for the first time in two months. I don’t know if it is related, but in the next 14 hours, I didn’t sleep well. I ran the 5K trail race and I go into afib after I get out of the shower. I blamed the first one on the excessive amounts of coffee I drank. The second was 14 hours after not having a cup for two months. The second made me second guess the reason I went into the episode. In both races I had bananas afterwards. (keep in mind, I run races practically every weekend 5K’s to Half Marathons). I am not sure what triggers it. One other option is it could be genetic. My Dad died of Congestive Heart Failure and my aunt (my Dad’s sister) has a pace maker. The only drugs I am on is for Cholesterol and Acid Reflux.
I’m 35 and have had a least a weekly afib episode since mid January 2010. I honestly don’t know if I had it before that. I never smoked, rarely drank, and when I did only in moderation. I think I have a genetic disposition to high cholesterol and I’m just barely overweight. Other than that I’m pretty healthy. I used to consume quite a bit of caffeinated soda and tea. I haven’t had coffee in maybe 15 years. I cut out caffeine cold turkey after the first episode. Now I’m wondering if a little wouldn’t help.
My episodes seem to happen when I have a lowered heart rate, like when I sleep. I usually wake up with it on the day I get it. I’ve been exercising to convert to sinus for almost every episode since mid February early March. I’m on beta blockers and I used to take another 50ml when I had afib, now I take 50 a day and I’m cutting back slowly to 25, and I don’t take any to convert. I usually convert within minutes after exercising. I wonder if the beta blockers don’t cause me to have more regular episodes since they keep my rate lower. I would like to get off them completely to see.
I’ve continued to drink soda but only caffeine free and usually diet. For the past week I’ve been unknowingly drinking caffeinated diet soda. I’ve felt quite a bit better than I have in a while and so far I’m a few days out from my normal weekly episode. It would seem that if my lower rate causes my episodes then giving my heart the occasional kick, as long as it is in moderation, wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Nothing like being a walking experiment…
I did also have a sleep study which show no sleep apnea.